South African miners agree pay deal

South Africa's gold miners have signed a pay deal with unions as most strikers
return to work under threat of dismissal.

A 22 per cent wage increase was won by the Lonmim platinum minersPhoto: AFP/GETTY

By Katinka Dufour

6:58PM BST 25 Oct 2012

The deal that was agreed could potentially end months of unrest, that culminated in 34 strikers being killed at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana.

About 100,000 workers in all have downed tools across South Africa since August which has led to awkward questions for President Jacob Zuma and the ruling ANC.

Many mines across the gold mining belt saw their production halted because of the strikes.

After three weeks of negotiations, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the gold industry, which employs around 157,000, announced agreement on wage increases of between 1.5 and 10.8 per cent for different categories of mine workers. It comes on top of a 10 per cent increase agreed in July.

At least 12,000 gold and 20,000 platinum miners were still pursuing a wave of unofficial strikes that have cost Africa's largest economy over 10 billion rand (about £708 million) this year, according to the National Treasury.